Am I able to give blood?

Are you aged between 18 and 66 and in good health? If so, you could become a blood donor right now! Remember: If you give blood for the first time before your 66th birthday, then you can continue to be a donor up to the age of 71!

Safety is our number-one priority

We want donation to be safe both for you as a donor and for the patient(s) who will be receiving your blood. As such, in some cases it may be that you will not be able to donate blood, plasma or platelets either for a temporary period or permanently. To determine who is able to give blood, before you donate we will ask you a number of questions and perform a brief examination. All our selection criteria are based on scientific evidence.

When are you allowed/not allowed to give blood?

To ensure that the blood we supply is safe, we apply scientifically based selection criteria. Want to know more? Simply contact the doctor at your donor center.

1. Age

You must be aged 18+ and under 66 to become a donor. If you have given blood, plasma or platelets before, you can continue being a donor until your 71st birthday. However, if you are 66 or over, it must not be more than three years since you last did so.

2. Body weight, length and gender

Depending on your weight, height and sex, you are able to give blood. You can check your eligibility to give blood online.

3. Intervals between giving blood, plasma and platelets

You can give blood up to four times per year. Each time you need to wait at least two months before giving blood again.

However, you can give plasma and blood platelets every two weeks.

If you want to combine to give a blood, plasma and/or blood platelets, you need to wait until two weeks after giving blood to give plasma or platelets again, and at least two months to give blood again.

4. Travelling abroad

Did you travel outside Belgium during the past 6 months, then there is a postponement period. The term depends on your travel destination:

You need to wait until at least 28 days after your return before giving blood, plasma or platelets again. However, depending on where you travelled to, this waiting period may even be as much as six months. We advise you to check up on this a few days before reporting as a donor.

If you have visited a malaria-endemic area in Southern or Central America you will have to wait six months before donating blood, no matter how long you stayed there. Additional tests will be needed if you stayed for more than 6 months.

If you are unsure or if you have any questions, please send an e-mail a few days before donating to bloed@rodekruis.be.

If you travelled to a European country, then as a rule you can give blood, plasma or platelets.

Travellers who stayed in areas affected by the West Nile Virus until the 30th of November however are excluded for donating blood or platelets for 28 days after leaving the high-risk area:

7. Pregnancy

You must wait for a period of four months after having a tattoo, a body piercing, pierced ears, permanent make-up, acupuncture or myofascial release therapy (dry needling). However, if an accredited acupuncturist or a doctor did the acupuncture, you do not need to wait and can give blood, plasma or platelets straight away but in this case please bring evidence of their accreditation.

9. Contact with a person's blood as a result of an accident involving a prick, cut, splash or bite

If you have had contact with anybody's blood, you will need to wait for four months before reporting as a donor again (e.g. as a nurse, you pricked yourself with a needle which you had just used on a patient; cuts, splashes and bites may also lead to contact with a person's blood).

10. Illnesses or infections

Fever or illness caused by a viral or bacterial infection

Wait for 14 days after you have fully recovered.

Tick bite

If the tick was removed within 24 hours, there is no waiting period.

If the tick was NOT removed within 24 hours and you do not experience any symptoms: wait 1 month after the tick bit.

If you experience symptoms and/or Lyme disease: wait 14 days after the symptoms disappear and the treatment reaches an end

Other specific infections or illnesses

If you are HIV-positive, you must not give blood.

If you suffer from haemophilia (blood-coagulation disorder), you must not give blood.

Patients with haemochromatosis

People with a hereditary form of haemochromatosis but who are otherwise healthy may donate blood (but not plasma or blood platelets) provided they produce an annual certificate from their doctor confirming that:

they are in the maintenance phase of treatment and their serum ferritin is within the reference levels;

they need a phlebotomy no more than once every two months;

their organs are undamaged by their haemochromatosis.

Are you a haemochromatosis sufferer who meets the criteria above and would like to give blood?

Bring the certificate and the results of a recent (no more than a month old) serum ferritin lab test to the blood collection for the blood collection doctor.

Good to know:The certificate must be renewed annually after giving blood for the first time.As a haemochromatosis patient, you can give blood up to six times a year, with at least 60 days between each donation.

Serious illness

If you have had a serious illness (such as cancer) or suffer from a cardiovascular disease, please contact our medical department before attending the blood collection, at the number 09/244 56 65 or 015 445 744.

11. Sexual partners

You may not give blood, plasma or platelets for 4 months if:

You’ve got a new sexual partner.

You’ve injured yourself with a needle or a sharp object which had blood from another person on it.

You have sniffed drugs.

You’ve got an STD (not HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C or syphilis).

Your sexual partner has syphilis.

You may not give blood, plasma or platelets for 12 months after the end of one of the below-mentioned risk situations:

You have had a risky sexual contact and want to know if you’re infected.

You or your sexual partner have several sexual partners, or take part in group sex.

You come from a country where AIDS or hepatitis is prevalent and have lived in Belgium for less than 3 years.

Your sexual partner is from a country where AIDS and/or hepa­titis is prevalent (to be discussed with your doctor).

You have been given money or things in exchange for sex.

Your sexual partner is a prostitute.

You or your sexual partner have paid for sex.

You may never give blood if:

You are HIV positive or have AIDS.

You’ve ever had or tested positive for hepatitis B, hepatitis C or syphilis.

You have ever injected drugs.

Women may not donate blood or platelets for 28 days following the last sexual contact with their male partner if he has stayed in a high-risk area for the Zika virus in the three months before sexual contact (even if she did not go with him) or if he has had Zika virus disease.

12. Medication/vaccinations

In most cases if you are on medication or have just had a vaccination, there is no reason why you should not give blood, plasma or platelets.

However, if you are on any of the following medication, you must not do so for the period stated here:

Roaccutane: one month

Proscar (finasteride), Avodart (dutasteride): one month

Neotigason: two years

If you have had the following vaccinations, you must wait for the period specified below before giving blood, plasma or platelets:

live vaccines: one month

hepatitis B vaccine: 14 days

13. Drug users

If you have ever taken drugs by injection, you must never give blood.

After sniffing drugs, you must wait for four months before giving blood.